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Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced that his office has identified more than $275 million in what he calls “excessive and wasteful spending” in Jacksonville’s 2025-2026 budget.
The city of Jacksonville’s general fund budget has increased 61% since 2019, according to Ingoglia. He pointed out last year that more than $199 million of the city’s 2024-2025 budget was wasteful spending.
Ingoglia said the findings are part of an ongoing effort to provide transparency to local taxpayers and hold city officials accountable for spending decisions.
“The City of Jacksonville has proven once again that they don’t care about taxpayers. All they care about is a huge, bloated budget that is taxing taxpayers,” Ingoglia said. “Mayor Deegan has continued to spend taxpayer dollars recklessly and irresponsibly since taking office. Property tax reform is not only possible, it is necessary, and come November, Floridians will have a choice to keep more of their hard-earned money out of the hands of government.”
The Florida Office of Fiscal Oversight, known as FAFO, reported that Jacksonville spent $623.4 million above the threshold over the past six years. The agency’s study found that the city’s general fund budget increased by more than $840.1 million between fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2025-2026.
During the same period, Jacksonville’s population grew by 10.49% (99,588 people). According to Ingoglia’s office, this means the budget will increase by $33,743.36 for every family of four who moves into the city.
Greg Ungru of Americans for Prosperity praised the review, saying FAFO’s methodology will help bring local government spending under tighter scrutiny.
“The FAFO methodology emphasizes fiscal responsibility by ensuring that local governments work for their residents and not the other way around,” Ungruu said. “Today’s numbers demonstrate that Jacksonville continues to take advantage of taxpayers. I would like to thank CFO Ingoglia for his continued oversight in mitigating overspending in the municipal budget.”
Ingolia’s office also said the city of Jacksonville could reduce millage fees by 1.49 million without impacting critical city services. The reduction could potentially save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year, according to the CFO.
A homeowner with a taxable home value of $300,000 would save $447 per year. If your taxable home value is $400,000, you’ll save $595 a year; if your taxable home value is $500,000, you’ll save $744 a year.
Ingoglia said his office has identified more than $2.7 billion in excessive and wasteful spending across Florida. He said he will continue to review local government budgets across the state as part of his role as chief financial officer.
